Thursday, July 5, 2012

Dilshan, Sangakkara lift gloom with tons

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dilshan-sangakkara-lift-gloom-tons-133214727.html

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Physicists In Switzerland Make Momentous Discovery

Scientists in Switzerland unveiled the results in their search for a subatomic particle that is believed to be key to the formation of stars, planets and eventually life after the Big Bang. Many questions remain about the exact nature of this particle.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning.

Scientists in Switzerland today say they have made a momentous discovery. They've identified a new sub-atomic particle that helps explain how our universe is put together. It appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson, also called the god particle. The announcement stirred round after round of applause among the gathered scientists, who've been waiting for this moment for decades. Many questions remain about the exact nature of the particle, but this was a morning to celebrate. NPR's Richard Harris was up all night watching all the excitement. And he's sitting here with us in the studio right now.

Good morning.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee. At least I was up early. I did get a little....

MONTAGNE: You got a little shut eye. OK. Well, that's all right.

First of all, what exactly is this particle that they've been searching for, and you know, why does it matter?

HARRIS: Well, for decades physicists have been smashing atoms together to understand all the fields and particles that make up our universe. And they've actually come up with a very complete theory called the standard model. It does a really good job of explaining many features of our universe - the nature of light, what atoms are made of and how they hold together and how they decay and so on.

But there has been one missing piece. And this piece predicts the existence of a particle, known as the Higgs particle. And finding it would mean that there's an invisible field that permeates the universe and gives mass to everything in it, you know, stars and of course the atoms inside our bodies. So this is us. This is really fundamental.

MONTAGNE: And they have now actually found the Higgs particle.

HARRIS: They have clearly found some new fundamental particle. And it looks a lot like what they expected. But they can't say that with total certainty, so they're leaving themselves just a little bit of wiggle room. They're calling this a Higgs-like particle, but they're not saying it's absolutely the Higgs particle. One scientist said it's like trying to figure out if the person you see in the distance is your best friend or your best friend's twin. So it looks quite good, but, you know, they're being cautious.

MONTAGNE: And describe for us exactly how they did find it.

HARRIS: Well, they used a particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider, which is a $10 billion piece of equipment that straddles the Swiss-French border. And it smashes together protons at incredible energies.

And the hope is by doing this you create Higgs bosons in the process. But they knew that the particles that they would create, if they were creating them, would only last a tiny fraction of a second and then they'd decay into a shower of other particles.

So what they've been really doing is sifting through all of those other little particles to infer where they came from and see if they could sort of reconstruct an explosion that had been blowing up Higgs boson essentially.

And there're actually two experiments running simultaneous to analyze those showers of particles. And at the scientific conference in Switzerland today, both of those experiments announced that they'd found this fundamental new particle.

MONTAGNE: Now, is there a way to describe the particle, I mean what it looks like?

HARRIS: Well, you can't - who knows what it looks like. But what I can say, that it's far heavier than most sub-atomic particles. It's something like 125 times heavier than the proton and the neutron, which are the standard building blocks of an atom's nucleus. So - and as I mentioned, it's extremely fragile. It's highly unstable. It lasts less than a billionth of a second. And obviously they're really hard to make.

MONTAGNE: OK. Yeah. Clearly. So there was a lot of anticipation leading up to this announcement. I mean we're(ph) talking for scientists what they have named the god particle. So what - tell us more about their reaction.

HARRIS: Well, why don't we take a listen for a second.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: There was applause like this in waves and it went on for several minutes. And I also saw a handkerchief or two come out and sweep across the cheeks of some of the people who have been hunting for this thing for decades. So it was a very emotional moment, a great sense of accomplishment, really hard to do. And they were, you know, convinced that they had something really important in hand.

But as always, scientists say when they make a discovery there are new questions to answer. And so they're really going to try to figure out exactly what this particle is, if it really is the Higgs particle or not. It might take them another three or four years, actually, to get that final answer. But they are - they've got a new particle and they're really happy.

MONTAGNE: Well, you sound pretty happy too, Richard, for being up all night.

HARRIS: It's wonderful.

MONTAGNE: Oh, great. Well, good. Science correspondent Richard Harris.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/04/156239344/physicists-find-evidence-of-new-subatomic-particle?ft=1&f=1007

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AP PHOTOS: Americans celebrate the Fourth of July

Spectators watch fireworks streak across the sky during the Fanfare and Fireworks celebration at the University of Florida on Tuesday, July 3, 2012, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey)

Spectators watch fireworks streak across the sky during the Fanfare and Fireworks celebration at the University of Florida on Tuesday, July 3, 2012, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey)

Spectators wait for a fireworks display to begin at a Fourth of July celebration in Kansas City, Kan. Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Fourth of July fireworks are set off on Lake Winnipesaukee, Tuesday, July 3, 2012 in Alton Bay, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

A United States flag waves next to carnival rides as fireworks burst in the air during the Fourth of July Independence Day show at State Fair Meadowlands, Tuesday, July 3, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Fireworks light up the sky against the backdrop of a full moon during a Fourth of July celebration in Kansas City, Kan., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Across the United States, Americans are celebrating 236 years of independence with backyard barbeques, family gatherings and, of course, fireworks.

While many celebrations have been scaled-down or canceled due to weather-related power outages and concerns of spreading wildfires amid dry, hot weather, many are still celebrating, albeit in less-than-traditional ways.

Hundreds of thousands from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic are spending the Fourth of July like America's founders did in 1776, without the conveniences of electricity and air conditioning.

Fireworks on the National Mall in Washington are planned to go forward.

_____

Here's a running photo gallery, updated throughout the day, of celebrations across the U.S.

_____

Read more about the Fourth of July here: http://apne.ws/O4NrL9

AP Essay: In divided era, what does July 4th mean? http://apne.ws/O4NGG3

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-04-Photo%20Gallery-Fourth%20of%20July/id-20bbcfde85f8434fb661b4931e00ec5b

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Estonia: Ex-security official convicted of treason

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/estonia-ex-security-official-convicted-treason-195608005.html

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Aim Academy's Creative Writing Class

A review by Carmen Paddock

Mrs. Serbicki?s Creative Writing class is a must not only for those students interested in fiction and poetry, but for any student wanting to expand their writing horizons beyond the research paper (and have a great time while doing so!). As a writer, I fell into both categories. The main reason I signed up for this particular course, instead of the myriad others offered for homeschooled high school students, was the scope of subjects covered. The first semester was spent analyzing different elements of fiction, from characterization to dialogue to setting and beyond. The second semester delved into different types of fiction and storytelling, from point of view and tone to science fiction, poetry, realism, and drama. Covering both the elements and forms of fiction made it unique and well-rounded among the other online creative writing classes that I?ve seen.

While there was some variation in the structure, we read and discussed a famous piece of fiction one week and then worked on a related fiction project the next; while prompts were (thankfully) often provided, there was a lot of leeway to pursue our own ideas and plot lines! We also had weekly Skype chats which were wonderful for that jolt of inspiration ? chatting with Mrs. Serbicki and classmates was a great way to free a writer?s block! Over the course of the year my favorite projects were the character study, the dialogue study, the speculative fiction assignment, and the poetry weeks. The most challenging to me were the setting study, the realist retelling of a classic fairytale/myth, and the drama assignment.

I feel that Mrs. Serbicki?s instruction helped me get past my fear of writing fiction ? under her guidance I actually finished stories ? and fine-tuned my narration and plot development, steering me away from melodrama into honest, engaging tales. I highly, highly recommend this class to any high school student interested in honing storytelling skills or just looking for a fun alternative to traditional English courses.

You can find out more here.

Source: http://debrabell.com/2012/07/aim-academys-creative-writing-class/

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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Is it time to regulate $60 billion-a-year arms trade?

Delegates from around the world gather in New York on Monday for the start of month-long U.N.-hosted negotiations to hammer out the first-ever binding treaty to regulate the global weapons market, valued at more than $60 billion a year.

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Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies as a result of armed violence around the world and that a convention is needed to prevent illicitly traded guns from pouring into conflict zones and fueling wars and atrocities.

Most U.N. member states favor a strong treaty.

If they get their way, all signatories would be charged with enforcing compliance to any treaty by companies that produce arms and with taking steps to prevent rogue dealers from operating within their borders.

They say conflicts in Syria and elsewhere cast a shadow over the talks, reminding delegates of the urgency of the situation.

"In Syria, Sudan and the Great Lakes of Africa, the world is now once again bearing witness to the horrific human cost of the reckless and overly secret arms trade," said Brian Wood, international arms control and human rights manager at Amnesty International.

"Why should millions more people be killed and lives devastated before leaders wake up and take decisive action to properly control international arms transfers?" he said.

Despite human rights concerns, US to resume selling arms to Bahrain

There is no guarantee the July 2-27 negotiations will produce a treaty, let alone a good one. In February, preparatory talks on the ground rules for this month's talks nearly collapsed due to procedural wrangling and other disagreements.

In the end, the United States and other countries succeeded in ensuring the treaty must be approved unanimously, so any one country can effectively veto a deal.

But the treaty may not be doomed if that happens. Wood said nations that support a strong pact could bring a treaty to the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly and adopt it with a two-thirds majority vote if there is no consensus in July.

'Deadly reality'
There are deep divisions on key issues to be tackled in the treaty negotiations, such as whether human rights should be a mandatory criterion for determining whether governments should permit weapons exports to specific countries.

Arms control advocates say a strong treaty is long overdue.

"It is an absurd and deadly reality that there are currently global rules governing the trade of fruit and dinosaur bones, but not ones for the trade of guns and tanks," said Jeff Abramson, director of Control Arms.

Abramson, Amnesty's Wood and Anna Macdonald of Oxfam spoke with reporters on Friday about the negotiations.

Much of the discussion revolved around Russia's arms supplies to Syria, where President Bashar Assad's 16-month assault on an increasingly militarized opposition has killed over 10,000 people. Russia is Assad's top arms supplier.

Wood said Russia is not the only culprit in Syria, one of many conflicts fed by unregulated arms deliveries. Western nations have also helped Assad. There are tanks on Syrian streets, Wood said, that come from Slovakia, upgraded by Italy.

Syria rebels: 170 regime tanks mass near major city

Oxfam's Macdonald said: "From Congo to Libya, from Syria to Mali, all have suffered from the unregulated trade in weapons and ammunition allowing those conflicts to cause immeasurable suffering and go on far too long. In the next few weeks, diplomats will either change the world - or fail the world."

One senior Western diplomat said the Syrian conflict has led to a "polarization" within the arms trade talks, with Russia becoming increasingly defensive about arms supplies to its ally Damascus that it says have nothing to do with the conflict.

The campaigners outlined what they want to see in the treaty. Governments should be required to regulate the sale and transfer of all weapons, arms, munitions and equipment used in military and domestic security activities, ranging from armored vehicles, missiles and aircraft to small arms and ammunition.

Risk assessments
Governments should also be required to make risk assessments before authorizing arms sales, make public all authorizations and deliveries and track their use. Trading without permission or diverting arms should be made a crime, they said.

One of the reasons this month's negotiations are taking place is that the United States, the world's biggest arms trader accounting for over 40 percent of global conventional arms transfers, reversed U.S. policy on the issue after Barack Obama became president and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.

But U.S. officials say Washington insisted in February on having the ability to "veto a weak treaty" during this month's talks, if necessary. It also seeks to protect U.S. domestic rights to bear arms - a sensitive issue in the United States.

The other five top arms suppliers are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

Wood, Macdonald and Abramson said some of the top arms trading countries have been joining other nations in an attempt to weaken the treaty. They said the United States, China, Syria and Egypt were pushing to exclude ammunition.

China, they added, wants to exempt small arms, while several Middle East states oppose making compliance with human rights norms a mandatory criterion for allowing arms deliveries.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48039285/ns/world_news/

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Syrian opposition makes new push to unite

CAIRO (AP) ? The Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite at a meeting Monday as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. Another 85 soldiers, including a general, fled to Turkey in a growing wave of defections.

Turkey's state-run Andolou news agency said the group of defectors also included 14 other officers, ranging from one colonel to seven captains. It is one of the largest groups of Syrian army defectors to cross into Turkey since the uprising against Assad began.

The stakes are high for calming the crisis in Syria, which NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday called "one of the gravest security challenges the world faces today."

But more than one year into the Syrian revolt, the opposition is still hobbled by the infighting and fractiousness that have prevented the movement from gaining the kind of political traction it needs to present a credible alternative to Assad.

"There is an opportunity before the conference of Syrian opposition today that must be seized, and I say and repeat that this opportunity must not be wasted under any circumstance," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told nearly 250 members of the Syrian opposition at the opening of the two-day conference in Cairo.

"The sacrifices of the Syrian people are bigger than us and more valuable than any narrow differences or factional disputes," he said.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, deputy to U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, said that unity of purpose and vision was "not an option, but a necessity if the opposition wants to bolster its popular support and trust and increase international support."

The divisions are tied to issues at the heart of the revolution: Whether to seek dialogue with the regime, whether outside military intervention is needed and what ideology should guide a post-Assad Syria.

Unlike Libya's National Transitional Council, which brought together most factions fighting Moammar Gadhafi's regime and was quickly recognized by much of the international community, Syria's opposition has no leadership on the ground.

Regime opponents inside and outside Syria are a diverse group, representing the country's ideological, sectarian and generational divide. They include dissidents who spent years in prison, tech-savvy activists in their 20s, former Marxists and Islamists.

Communication between those abroad and those in the country is extremely difficult. Political activists in Syria are routinely rounded up and imprisoned. Many are in hiding, communicating only through Skype using fake names, and the country is largely sealed off to exiled dissidents and foreign journalists.

The Cairo conference brought together various opposition groups ? including the Syrian National Council and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria ? to try to agree on a united front to represent them, as well as to work out a transition plan for how to end to the conflict.

However, the main rebel group fighting Syrian government forces on the ground, the Free Syrian Army, was not represented at the talks. Faiz Amru, a member of the Joint Military Command, which is affiliated with the FSA, said the Cairo meeting was purely political, so rebels were not invited.

Besides the conference in Cairo, opposition members also plan to meet Russian officials later this month, a Russian news agency reported. But the Moscow talks are significant because the Kremlin is Syria's most important ally, protector and supplier of arms.

Diplomatic hopes have rested on persuading Russia to agree to a plan that would end the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades.

Moscow's determination to preserve its last remaining ally in the Middle East has blocked efforts by the U.S. and other Western powers to force Assad out.

World powers at a conference in Geneva on Saturday accepted a U.N.-brokered plan calling for the creation of a transitional government with full executive powers in Syria. But at Russia's insistence, the compromise left the door open to Assad being part of the interim administration.

Some Syrian opposition groups have rejected the plan, calling it ambiguous and a waste of time and vowing not to negotiate with Assad or members of his "murderous" regime.

However, the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria said Monday that the plan is the best way to ensure a political transition that avoids a full collapse of the Syrian state.

Elaraby, who has held private meetings with Syrian opposition figures at the League's headquarters in the past, said the agreement did not meet Arab expectations because it did not specify a time frame for a "clear transition" as the League had called for.

The U.S. backed away from insisting that the plan should explicitly call for Assad to have no role in a new Syrian government, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the regime's violent crackdown.

The conflict has killed more than 14,000 people since the revolt began in March 2011, according to opposition estimates. The fighting has grown increasingly militarized in recent months, with rebel forces launching attacks and ambushes on regime targets.

Thousands of soldiers, most of them low-level conscripts, have deserted and joined the rebels. The 85 soldiers who crossed over to Turkey on Monday followed 33 others, including a general and two colonels, who did the same a week earlier, in a sign that high-level defections appear to be increasing.

Although the defections are notable, Assad's regime has remained remarkably airtight, particularly compared with the hemorrhaging of Gadhafi's inner circle in Libya in 2011.

Assad has refused to budge, saying his country is at war with terrorists ? the term he uses for his armed opponents. On Monday, he ratified a new terrorism law that includes a clause specifically aimed at the opposition. Under the law, the penalty for terrorism that aims to change the regime would exceed 20 years at hard labor.

As the conflict drags on, concerns are mounting that the violence will spiral outside the country's borders. Tensions already are running high between Damascus and Ankara after Syria shot down a Turkish military plane on June 22.

Syria said the jet violated its airspace, but Turkey says the aircraft was shot down over international waters.

Turkey responded by setting up anti-aircraft guns along the frontier and said Monday it dispatched fighter jets to its border after Syrian helicopters flew too close to the frontier for a second day on Sunday.

In Brussels on Monday, Fogh Rasmussen said the Syrian regime "has lost all humanity and all legitimacy." But there is little appetite for the type of military intervention that helped topple Libya's Gadhafi, in part because there is no real opposition to get behind.

The international community is also hesitant to get involved in another country in turmoil.

"Every member of the international community should use its influence and spare no effort to bring an end to the bloodshed and move Syria forward," he said. "This conflict has already gone on for too long. It has cost too many lives, and put the stability of the whole region at risk."

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Kennedy reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-makes-push-unite-172501721.html

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